January 30, 2002

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today announced that it has fined Prime Moving & Storage, Inc. (Prime) of North Bergen, NJ, a for-hire motor carrier hauling primarily household goods, $7,000 for multiple violations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR).

FMCSA's New Jersey Division cited Prime during an October 2001 investigation for six violations. They involved failing to charge their applicable tariff rate, failing to participate in a dispute settlement program (arbitration), failing to provide household goods shippers the booklet "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move," leasing owner-operators without a valid written lease, failing to obtain weight tickets in the prescribed form and manner, and accepting credit cards for payment without a valid tariff reference.

Prime will have the opportunity to contest the alleged violations and the amount of the penalties in an agency proceeding.

These investigations were a result of consumer complaints received by FMCSA.

Consumers may file household goods or other commercial motor carrier complaints on FMCSA's nationwide complaint hotline at 1-888-368-7238 (1-888 DOT-SAFT). To further protect consumers, a commercial complaint form is now available on The Safety Violation and the Consumer household Goods Commercial Complaint Website Hotline at http://nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov .

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